College Politics

I've seen Christina Trefzger's post on liberal bias at state schools mentioned in a few different places now. Here is the pertinent passage for me:

One time I complained to one of my engineering friends how liberal my classes were and asked her if all of her professors were liberal too. To my astonishment, she said that she had never had a liberal professor. When I expressed my shock, she said, “We’re engineers; we deal in reality. We don’t have the luxury of being liberal.”

Frankly, I went through four years of college and then grad school without much of a clue about my engineering professors' politics. I'm sure some vote Democrat and others vote Republican. It didn't come up much because we were too busy learning objective methods to solving problems.

Engineering is not a profession for political idealists. It is a profession for empirical realists. Generally when the politicians get overly involved bad things happen. No amount of wanting will make a bad design work well just as no bill passed by Congress can repeal the Law of Gravity. The tools we use to solve problems are not cutting edge scientific research, but often simplified rules of thumb and a healthy respect for past solutions to problems.

I have to admit my experience with the PoliSci department was different from Christina's. I found my PoliSci profs to be liberal but relatively unbiased. They had something of an objective academic outlook on politics as if they were studying chimpanzee behavior or something. When I took Intro to American PoliSci, my prof pointed out things like "Democrats historically get re-elected by bringing home the pork while Republicans historically get re-elected for fighting the good fight." We discussed how Newt had brought the Republicans success in the 1994 election by reinventing the party platform using the Contract with America. And she was a total hippie that went to Woodstock. When I took Third World PoliSci, my prof pointed out that all the third worlders transitioning to First World status were capitalists. He was a little upset about the failure of Communism but he had to admit it had failed where capitalism had succeeded.

Christianity and the Courts

Guest blogger Greg Sisk is covering bias against traditional Christians in the courts at the Volokh Conspiracy.

The enduring legal myth is that members of minority religious groups face a decidedly uphill battle in securing accommodation for unconventional religious practices, expression, or values from the courts. According to the conventional wisdom, traditional Christian believers may anticipate a more hospitable welcome from the judiciary when asserting claims of conscience or religious liberty. However based upon our empirical study of religious liberty decisions in the federal courts, the proposition that minority religions are less successful with their claims was found to be without support, at least in the modern era and in the lower federal courts. In fact, counter to popular belief, adherents to traditionalist Christian faiths, notably Roman Catholics and Baptists, appear to be the ones that today enter the courthouse doors at a disadvantage.

He began yesterday and continues today.

Jewish Jokes

The very Semitic crew over at the Volokh Conspiracy is discussing them and ethnic humor in general. A few choice jokes from the comments are here and here. My current favorite piece of ethnic humor goes like this:

A New York tailor, devout Jew all his days, tries very hard to bring up his children in the faith. One day, his youngest son comes to him and announces that he is becoming a Roman Catholic. The tailor ponders his misfortunes, trying to understand why such a thing should happen to him. In desolation, he seeks out his rabbi and confides in him.

"Rabbi," laments the tailor, "I do not understand. My son, a good Jewish boy, brought up in the faith. We observed, we attended, we did everything for the boy, and yet he decides to become a Catholic. How can this thing be?"

"My friend," says the rabbi, "I can't stand it, but I must tell you. My son, a good Jewish boy, brought up here in the synagogue in the faith. Yet, he also became a Catholic."

Suddenly, the lights dim, the walls shake, and voice of God fills the room. "My son, a good Jewish boy..."

To poke a little fun at myself here is another one:

There are 3 fundamental truths about religion: Jews don't recognize Jesus as the Son of God, Protestants don't recognize the Pope as the Vicar of Christ, and Baptists don't recognize each other at the bar on Saturday nights.

More Tiny Terrors

Von brought up the Smart. It is the only kei car not made by a Japanese company. I have no desire to own one. It might make a great city car, but frankly its high center of gravity makes turning horrific. It was the Worst Handling Car in Top Gear's 2004 Car Awards. But if you want it to go really fast in a straight line, put the engine from a Hayabusa superbike into it. The engine and transmission from the bike won't last long because even the tiny smart is too heavy for them, but you can have a little fun while they do.

Motorcycle engines have me interested though. Radical racing is combining two suzuki RST inline 4s into a motorcycle inspire V8. If you follow the link to the dyno charts, it makes 360+ horses with only 2.6 liters of displacement. It also has no torque and makes all it's power above six or seven thousand RPM. Radical is also looking to bore the block to 3.0 liters for more fun. But in a very lightweight speedster, it still could be pretty impressive.

Kei Cars

Japan has a class of vehicles called "kei" cars. Thankfully they have nothing to do with the old Chrysler products of the same name. Kei means "light". These are very small cars produced mostly because the government offers tax breaks because of their ecological friendliness. How small are they? Frankly they're rollerskates, 11.15 feet long and 4.85 feet wide. Think of a car smaller than a Mini with a turbocharged engine no larger than 660cc. That's 0.66 liters if you're bad at unit conversions. Most weigh under 1800 lbs. They're totally tiny.

Some of these cars are imported into various parts of the British Commonwealth, including Canada. They're probably most popular (outside of Japan) in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. This is because those countries all drive on the wrong sides of the street just like the Japanese. You can't get them in the US. Don't even try. Sorry, ludicrous amounts of federal regulations exist to prevent Americans from importing fuel efficient small cars from somewhere else.

And yet I'm intrigued. Some of the designs are downright fascinating. Now trying to cram a family vehicle into this small footprint seem fraught with peril. But this might not suck if all you want is a small commuter car for one or two people.

Take the Honda Beat for instance. It is a little mid-engined convertible. Now take that car (quite literally that exact car), stretch it a bit and drop in a bigger engine. Now you have the MG TF which is the most popular sports car in Britain and for good reason. The Daihatsu Copen and the Nissan Figaro also have a big of style and performance.

I really think that small may be the untapped future of American automobiles. Right now we have lots of mammoth V8s, but few small, light, quick two-seater fours like the MG or the Lotus. I really think there is a sweet spot in the market for a small, sporty, fairly inexpensive, two-door that doesn't do much but does it well. But maybe that is just the guy that spends an hour and a half a day commuting doing the talking.

Holy Crap!

This armed robbery happened at my supermarket on Friday. Time for me to invest in that CCW permit.

Don Knotts, Comedy Genius

A friend and reader linked me to this post about the Christian nature of Knotts's comedy:

One by one, Mr. Knotts mocked the pretenses of the comic actor who often has his eye on nobler pursuits. In the nervous man, he reveled in the discomfort that most comics tend to pass off as indignation or savoir-faire. As Barney, he satirized swagger and self-importance. Finally, on "Three's Company" in the late 70's and 80's, he sent up the comedian's hypersexuality, which is often his pride.

Knotts was reliably ahead of his time. He (along with Andy Griffith and others) are also Christian's from the old silent majority school that Ronald Reagan also espoused.

Christian Compassion

One of the Thinklings is discussing the softening of evangelical attitudes toward homosexuality. While individuals like Brian McLaren are taking a lot of credit and (in some circles) blame for this, we are really coming to the end of a pretty long road.

I remember my first experience with realigning relationships started when I was a teenager in a PCA church in Wilmington. A prominent member of the congregation was gay and had been struggling with leaving that lifestyle with the help and support from our excellent Assistant Pastor. We had an evening service on the subject one summer in the early nineties.

I remember them expressing that what most gay people need isn't a lecture on sexual morality. What they need more than anything else is Christ. To do it the other way around is to put the cart before the horse. The wisdom of that statement seemed incredibly well founded to me then. A recent study of 1 Corinthians has shown it to be biblically founded even now.

Moving Day

Amybear and I are moving her into her apartment, which will be our apartment once we get married. Hence the light blogging today. Her parents have managed to finagle a lot of free but definitely not cheap loot for us. If you come to visit you can easily distinguish what is what by the quality.

In a side note, we bought lunch for everybody from McDonalds. Am I the only one that looks at a typical fast food meal only to have the the theme song to Aquateen Hunger Force spring into my head?

Fundamentalist Athiests

There is a such a thing. I have met them. It is scary. Physics Geek links to a list of ways to recognize the phenomenon.

Death of an Enzo

More on ,this story from Greg Costikyan:

Stefan Eriksson, former executive for Gizmondo, apparently crashed his $1m Ferrari while street racing on the Pacific Coast Highway. Eriksson apparently left Gizmondo last October when Aftonbladet (a Swedish newspaper) revealed that he was convicted in 1993 and 1994 on counts of financial fraud and counterfeiting, and was at the times considered the brains behind the Uppsala Mafia, a local criminal gang. (Sweden has a Mafia? Who knew.)

Yes the Swedish mafia exist and are operating in the US, here they are doing intensive weapons training.

Ok I'd Buy This

From the makers of Rollercoaster Tycoon and Sim-Everything, it's MegaChurch. See how easy it is to be just like Joel Osteen! Via: Rev Ed.

Rangers Lead the Way

From McQ at QandO:

In June 24th of 2004, a young Ranger with the 75th Ranger Regiment was greviously wounded in Iraq when, on his second tour, the humvee he was riding in was attacked. After exiting the vehicle after the explosion and attack, Ranger Kanaan Merriken passed out and was unconscious for 11 days.

Merrikan had been airlifted to a hospital in Germany where surgeons had worked desperately to save his life. His carotid artery has been severed by shrapnel and part of the left frontal lobe of his brain had been damaged. The damaged portion had to be removed in a crainiotomy. He also had shrapnel wounds all over his body, a retinal hemorrage in his left eye and loss of hearing in his left ear.

Merriken was given a medical discharge. He didn't take it. In fact he fought to have it repealed in court. In November, Merriken completed the Ranger Indoctrination Program for a second time. He is now back serving with the 75th.

I'm a civilian, you can't force me to salute. But Kanaan Merriken, I salute you.

Dobson Does Something Right

I'm not normally a fan of James Dobson and his political machinations. He's generally too old guard for me. But a bill he is supporting in Colorado is actually pretty good:

A controversial bill under consideration in the Colorado Legislature, which is supported by Dr. James Dobson and Focus on the Family Action, would facilitate certain contractual obligations or legal arrangements for any two "unmarried persons who are excluded from entering into a valid marriage under the marriage laws of this state."

Meaning that this law can be used to streamline gay couples sharing parental rights or other legal arrangements. It could also be used by close family members and other groups. Joe Carter has this to say:

Some conservatives and libertarians may see no need for the government to expand the definition of civil unions in any manner. But the political reality is that the change is inevitable. The issue is no longer when civil unions will be recognized but what form they will take. (The Colorado bill is competing with a domestic partnership proposal from Democratic lawmakers.) By desexualizing the issue we preserve the government’s purpose (a social institution that brings stability to our society) without endorsing behavior that many of us consider immoral.

Exactly. I'm not fan of homosexuality in general or gay marriage in particular. But gay couples are adopting and raising children. I'm not insensitive to the problems this creates. If we don't react in a way that allows both Christians and homosexuals some flexibility, then we are likely to get something that has no flexibility shoved down our throats.

There are essentially two models of Christian involvement in government. The first is to embrace big government and use it to try to foster or even impose godly behavior on the governed. In short, turn the gigantic government machine that the liberals built against them. It is tempting, but it isn't biblical. In Corinthians, Paul says that you can't expect or require that non-Christians behave like Christians. Without the Holy Spirit to do so is little more than tyranny. I am many things, but not a tyrant.

I believe we need to embrace a form of limited civil government where people may do what they like contractually, but where the government and the legal system cannot impose support for behavior that citizens consider immoral. We need to dismantle the monster liberals have built and bring many social issues out of the halls of government and back into the public square where they really belong.

UPDATE: A response to some comments:

You want limited government but only if it agrees with your moral compass.

No what I want is a government limited so that it cannot force me to act against my own moral compass. I really don't care if gay people want to get married. I do care if I am forced to support their lifestyle with my taxes, etc.

Maybe they don't want to support my lifestyle either. If that means some things I want don't get government or contractually supported because other people have problems with them, then I'm fine with that. I'm more than willing to support them myself with my non-tax dollars, especially when limited government means I will have more non-tax dollars I can use to support those charities.

What Problem does adopting children create exactly? What is getting shoved down your throats? What flexibility do Christians need from the government?

Adopting children causes huge parent/guardianship problems for gay couples. Often only one member of the couple can be listed as a parent or guardian. If that one dies, the child's other parent may be in a custody battle with their deceased partner's family for the child. It happens, it sucks, and I sympathize. Also, a civil union or marriage would probably make it a lot easier for gay couples to get health benefits and the like from people who have no moral problems with homosexuality. This is also useful for raising kids.

On the other hand if gay marriage is considered marriage, there is no option to deny gay couples coverage on moral grounds. The civil institution of marriage is a pre-existing legal construct with pre-existing contractual issues. If no differentiation is made, then all those pre-existing issues can be rammed down the throat of conscientous moral objectors in a court of law.

On the other hand if gay marriage is legally different than straight marriage, then it has to be re-legislated by the states and feds. Gay marriage can't just piggy-back on the immense body of pre-existing legislation. You can't use gay marriage to force people to do what they want. The difference is that if gay marriage is a "civil union" then a Christian healthcare provider (and there are several) can say "No we don't cover you, but try Blue Cross" instead of being told "You cannot deny me coverage by state law."

Death of an Artwork

Authorities were investigating the circumstances behind a spectacular crash on Pacific Coast Highway that destroyed a rare Ferrari Enzo that experts said was worth more than $1 million.

Poor car. Dumb driver. But he's lucky. If he had been going 100+ in a lesser car, wrapping it around that telephone pole probably would have killed him.

If there are any Enzo owners in Delaware who need a driver to get them home from the bar, give me a call. I'll get you home safe. Honest.

Not About Whales

John the Methodist has some issues with Jonah.

I really like Jonah. Jonah is the biblical equivalent to "Ring Around the Rosie" or "Alluetta". Everybody knows "Ring Around the Rosie" as a childrens song with a fun little dance. Like the Hokie Pokie except shorter. Fewer people realize that it is about everyone dying from the Black Death. The "ring around the rosie" is a description of the buboes cause by the Plague. Similarly Alluetta sounds like a cute french song, but is actually about plucking a bird's feathers so you can eat him.

Jonah is like that. We teach it to children as a story about a man that was scared and ran away. Then he got eaten by a fish, spit up, and everybody lived happily ever after. This is the cartoon version of Jonah you'll see in Veggie Tales and in Sunday school lessons. But it isn't the real story. The real story of Jonah is about the adventures of a Jewish bigot.

The reason for the mis-interpretation is that Jonah doesn't tell you why he ran away until the last chapter. God initial told Jonah:

Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.

But Jonah runs, why? Most people just project their own insecurities on him. But was he actually scared? No. Jonah has this to say in Chapter 4:

That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.

In other words, the Assyrians are a horrible people. I wanted them to be destroyed. I didn't want to give them the opportunity for repentance by bringing your word to them. Now kill me.

Then Jonah goes up on a hill overlooking the city and waits for God to destroy it. But that doesn't happen. God attempts to teach him a lesson using the vine and worm, a lesson about the value of the lives of the people of Nineveh, but we have no evidence that Jonah actually learned it and repented from his own sins.

Speed Skating Feuds

Ok if I were Shani Davis, I would have competed in the pursuit. If I were Chad Hedrick, I wouldn't be mouthing off so much. But I'm neither. For further thoughts, look to Matthew at Physics Geek, Jesus Freak.

What bugs me most about this whole situation is all the "first African American to get the gold" business. What happened to Vonetta Flowers winning the gold driving women's bobsled in 2002? Does she not count because she's a woman and competes in a team sport? Davis is only an icebreaker if you start liberally applying qualifiers like "individual" or "male" in front of "African-American."

I can respect Davis's drive and performance. But the truth is that the story the media wants to tell really isn't there. But they're dedicated to telling it anyway. Which is what has made Davis's interviews so entertaining for me and frustrating for reporters like Melissa Stark.

Shotgun Gate Part Deux

I promise that this will be the last shotgun gate post until the next one...

Via Geek with a .45, some science nerds are looking at 28 gauge shot patterns from various ranges. They start with patterning boards and move to chickens, etc. It is an interesting post and they have great pictures.

The problem is that we don't know what choke Cheney was using and the choke can have a huge effect on pattern size. The guys at My Science Project guessed modified which is probably the best choice. But if Cheney was shooting full, I expect the pattern to be significantly different.

An Emerging Endeavor

The Delaware conservative blogosphere was knit a little closer this weekend. Several of us; Hube of Colossus of Rhodey, Ryan of Jokers to the Right, Steve of Blogolution, Paul Smith Jr., the Mark Levin Fan, and myself; got together Saturday for dinner and discussion. It was good fun and we'll be doing it again, possibly on a regular basis.

Sometime during the night, we realized we had a potential opportunity staring us in the face. Delaware is a small state. We have a weak (at best) mainstream media in the News Journal. Even our state government has a small town feel. A loud but small group of people can make a difference. But wait! We're a loud but small group of people. Why don't we make a difference!

Our first step is the formation of the Delaware Conservative Bloggers Alliance (DCBA). The new blogroll and graphic will be appearing to the left once I get off my lazy butt and put it there. The second step is the creation of Delaware 2006, a new group blog focusing on issues and people involved in the 2006 Delaware elections.

Odd facts about the Alliance:

• Unlike the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars, we are not modeled on the Viet Cong in any way, shape, or form.
• Oddly enough a lot of us are current or former comic book fans. Some even know people in the industry.
• Our blogging platforms are diverse. Blogspot is the most common because we're cheap and it's free.
• We're religiously diverse. I'm Baptist, Paul is Catholic, Hube is also Christian, and Steve is Jewish. Good for us.
• We're a political big tent too, although we're all to the right of Mike Castle.
• If you want to see what big nerds we are Hube and Paul both have the picture posted. I'm the guy who's ball cap is covering up the fact that he badly needs a haircut.

Stay tuned for future developments.

UPDATE: I misreported Hube's religious background as atheist/agnostic. Sorry about that Hube, I was misinformed. While Hube isn't big on organized religion, he's also Christian. I don't anticipate any friction there since I'm Baptist and therefore practice one of the most disorganized religions in the world.

Gearhead Alert

Ever wondered what makes an engine go? Autoblog has not one, but two pieces covering the engine design of two big V8s. The first is a comparison of Chrysler's 5.7 and 6.1 liter hemis. The second compares the supercharged 5.4 liters found in the Ford GT and Shelby Mustang 500. Pay no attention to the brand bigotry in the comments over there.